Open your heart with Pilates

By Kristen Matthews

When I was 22 years old a massage therapist told me that if I didn’t do something about my posture I would be hunched over by the time I was 30.  Now at 34 people think I am two inches taller than I am and I owe it all to my Pilates practice.  It’s one of the reasons I chose to become an instructor. We live in a society where most of our days are spent in flexion.  Because of this so many people struggle with poor posture, neck pain, and back problems.  I’m sure everyone who sits at a desk all day knows exactly what I am talking about.  No one needs to look like the hunch back of Notre Dame, thanks to Pilates.

I spend my days using the phrase “open your heart” in order to counteract all the flexion in my clients lives.  Think of your body as a box with your hip next to your hip and your shoulder next to your shoulder.  From the side view you want your ear over your shoulder, your shoulder over your hip, and your hip over your ankle.  This applies whether you are standing, on your side, or lying down.  One of my jobs as an instructor is to help clients get their symmetry back.  What I love about Pilates is that there is no lack of extension exercises in the repertoire.  I get to teach them and have fun.  From pulling straps or chest expansion on the reformer, to swan or swimming on the mat, to teaser on the wunda chair, you are constantly working on opening your heart.

In extension exercises you need to work your shoulder blades towards one another while widening your collarbone and engaging your core.   Once you are able to put them all together effortlessly it’s such a freeing feeling.  Strengthening the muscles in the upper part of your back is an important step in standing taller, along with stretching the muscles in your chest.  Being able stand tall and look life in the face is a great accomplishment.  Pilates can be so much more than just a workout especially when you are able to enjoy life more because you’ve gotten rid of aches and pains.  So if you are ready open your heart and let Pilates in you can contact me at krismatthews@yahoo.com.  You can also go to my website at www.kristen4pilates.com to learn more about Pilates and how it may benefit you.

This entry was written by kmatthews, posted on February 6, 2010 at 8:21 am, filed under Fitness, Life is Fitness, Lifestyle and Spa, Los Angeles, Pilates, Santa Barbara and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Origin of Pilates

joseph pilates image via john lindquist

Joseph Hubertus Pilates was born in Germany in 1880. He was a sickly child who suffered from many of the common childhood ailments of the time, including rickets. To overcome the physical weakness that resulted from these ailments, Joseph Pilates developed a great interest in bodybuilding and all forms of physical exercise. He devoted the rest of his life to developing a system of body conditioning that he called Contrology, which is based on concepts which are outlined in the two books that he wrote,

  • Your Health: A corrective system of exercising that revolutionizes the entire field of physical education1 (1934)
  • Pilates’ Return to Life Through Contrology2 (1945).

Joseph Pilates was in Britain at the beginning of World War 1 and was placed in an internment camp for enemy aliens. He designed a physical education programme for staff and internees which was thought to have been a contributing factor in preventing mortality in the camp during the 1918 influenza epidemic which killed millions throughout the world.

It was during this time that Joseph Pilates began designing the equipment for which he is famous. The original equipment was based on hospital beds and consisted of springs attached to bars or a moving sled. The brilliance of this equipment is that it not only supplies resistance, but also assistance. The equipment allows one to be assisted in a way that encourages focus on developing optimal muscle recruitment patterns.

After returning to Germany for several years, Joseph Pilates moved to the United States in the late 1920s, where he opened a studio in New York. Many dancers commenced taking lessons with Joseph and his wife Clara and the Pilates Method came to be known as the ‘dancers’ thing’. It was through the Pilates Method’s reputation in the improvement of dancers’ ‘centring’ ability (now called core stability) and the rehabilitation of injured dancers that the wider community discovered the Pilates Method during the late 1980s, and 1990s.

article from http://nowrapilates.com.au/pilates.html

This entry was written by scrawford, posted on August 13, 2009 at 7:36 pm, filed under Pilates and tagged , , . Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.